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Clashes between Assad and Nusra forces kill 50
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Afghanistan
Former MP, Presidential election candidate found dead
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Shahla Ata, a former member of parliament and a candidate of the presidential elections in 2009 – in which she did not succeed – was found dead at her residence in the 10th police district of Kabul city this morning.

Kabul police confirming the death of Shahla Ata say that further details will be provided after the initial investigation and the provision of medical reports.

Shahla Ata was Member of Parliament in 2005 and was one of the two female candidates who ran for the country’s presidency in 2009 but did not win.

She belonged to the family of Sardar Mohammad Dawoud Khan and her father Sardar Ghulam Khan was an army general during the government of King Zahir Shah who was overthrown from power by his cousin Sardar Mohammad Dawoud Khan.

Ata had said during her presidential campaigns that she will apply the policies of Sardar Mohammad Dawoud Khan if she wins the election.

But Hamid Karzai who was the president of Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 won the election and became Afghanistan’s elected president for the 2nd term.

Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Key Taliban commanders arrested in Kabul
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS) has locked away
Please don't kill me!
two key Taliban capos during separate operations in the capital Kabul.

A statement issued by the NDS states that their personnel arrested Mullah Wazir son of Juma Khan from the jurisdiction of 16th police headquarters and Hikmatullah alias Sangari son of Ghulam Ali from the jurisdiction of 8th police district of Kabul city.

According to NDS Mullah Wazir was the military commander of Taliban for Ashmakash District of Takhar province and Sangari was involved in terrorist activities in Pashtun-infested Logar, Maidan Wardak and Kabul provinces.

NDS statement further states that Mullah Wazir was actively involved in the terrorist activities in Takhar province and Sangari in Pashtun-infested Logar, Maidan Wardak and Kabul provinces but it is not specified whether Sangari had played any role in last month's deadly attack on Pashtun-infested Logar police headquarters that left at least 20 soldiers dead.

The statement does not contain information about the exact date or location of the arrests but NDS statements are usually issued after recent achievements.

National Directorate of Security has some good achievements during recent months, best examples of which are the arrest of Mafia leaders Habib Estalif and Rais Khudaidad in Kabul, who were wanted in several cases of killing, abduction and robberies. Both of them were later hanged to death for their crimes in Kabul.

Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


8 policemen martyred in Takhar
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Eight Afghan soldiers have embraced martyrdom in an Death Eater ambush in northeastern Takhar province.

Officials confirm the ambushes in Khwaja Ghar District this morning.

Sunatullah Taimor, front man for the acting governor of Takhar province confirmed the attack.

He said that coppers were on their way from Dasht-e-Arche district to Khwaja Ghar District when they came under Taliban ambush in the jurisdiction of Khwaja Ghar District and.

He added that when Taliban ambushed coppers a shootout erupted between the two sides which lasted for about four hours.

He added that during the shootout four police men embraced martyrdom and two gunnies killed.

He further said that four other coppers were detained by the Taliban who were killed after their weapons were taken from them.

Taliban turbans have not commented on the report at this time.

Although, compare to past years 2015 started with more hopes for Afghans due to the reports that Taliban turbans are ending their over decade long insurgency and making a peace deal with government but this year too proved to be one of the deadly year for Afghan forces.

In one deadly attack that took place in Pashtun-infested Logar province last month, at least 20 Afghan soldiers bit the dust.

Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Somalia's Shebab Stages Suicide Attack in Key Central Town
[AnNahar] Somalia's Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab snuffies on Thursday attacked a fortified area in the central town of Baidoa, home to a key regional government headquarters, United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
compound and airport, security officials said.

Officials said five gunnies shot up the gate of the high-security zone but were held off by Æthiopian and Somali government troops. A source said an Æthiopian soldier was killed, while three of the attackers blew themselves up, another was rubbed out and the fifth was shot and maimed, ending the attack.

"They are Shabaab disguised in Somali military uniforms. That's how they managed to enter," a Somali police official in Baidoa, Mohammed Dahir, told AFP by telephone.

In a statement, the snuffies confirmed they carried out the attack and insisted it was a "success" -- with the objective being to "disrupt a security meeting" between local authorities and Æthiopian troops, who are part of the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
's AMISOM force fighting the Islamists.

A United Nations source confirmed the attack, but said the compound where aid agencies are located did not appear to be the target of the bad boys.

"These are desperate attempts by Al-Shabaab
... the personification of Somali state failure...
to seek relevance, following the massive defeats they continue to suffer from the Somali National Army working together with AMISOM troops," the African Union representative to Somalia, Maman Sidikou, also said in a statement, vowing to "pursue them further until they are completely eliminated".

Baidoa, situated 220 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu, was captured by Æthiopian forces in February 2012, ending three years of Shabaab rule and dealing the group a major blow.

In November the city became the capital of Somalia's newly created South West State and the seat of its president Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, a former parliamentary speaker and key ally of the country's internationally-backed government.

According to a security source, Adan's office appeared to be the main target of the attack. However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
snuffies failed to penetrate the building and the regional leader was safe, the source said.

Shabaab rebels continue to stage frequent attacks as part of their fight to overthrow the country's government and counter claims that they are close to defeat due to the loss of territory, regular drone strikes against their leaders and defections.

In the capital Mogadishu they have targeted hotels, the international airport, the presidential palace, a U.N. compound and restaurants.

On Wednesday evening one person was killed in a suspected Shabaab car kaboom against a popular hotel in Mogadishu, an attack that came several weeks after the Islamists carried out a suicide raid against another hotel in the city, killing at least 25 people.

The group have also carried out a string of Dire Revenge attacks in neighboring countries -- including the September 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi which left at least 67 dead.

Somalia has been unstable since the collapse of Siad Barre's hardline regime in 1991, and the country's new government is being supported by a 22,000-strong African Union force that includes troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Æthiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Africa North
Zintan confirms loss of base to Libya Dawn
[Libya Herald] Zintan has conceded the loss of the camp at Um Shawisha south of Ajilat which Libya Dawn
...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar...
announced it captured yesterday.

However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
a Zintani official claimed that LNA forces had pulled out of Um Shawisha before the Libya Dawn forces moved in, and did so to consolidate its forces at Wattiya airbase.

The official did not explain why the LNA would need to do this if the base were already adequately protected.

There were claims today from Libya Dawn media that its forces were closing in on Wattiya, and that they had shot down a helicopter taking off from the base.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Police station in Tripoli attacked: IS claims responsibility
[Libya Herald] A bomb went kaboom! early this morning outside the cop shoppe in the central Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
district of Zawiat Al-Dahmani. There were no injuries although one unconfirmed report stated that one person was slightly hurt. However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone...
the blast left a gaping hole in the station's outside wall and there was damage to nearby premises. One police vehicle was destroyed and others vehicles in the street damaged.

According to reports the blast was caused by a bomb placed outside the building. By mid afternoon, however, much of the damage had been repaired

The timing of the attack is similar to attacks on cop shoppes in Benghazi last year -- a bomb left in a bag outside the building and a blast occurring early in the morning before anyone was there. Today's blast occurred at around 6.45 am. No police were thought to be at the station at the time.

The "Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
in Tripoli" has grabbed credit for the attack and issued what appears to be credible 'before' and 'after' pictures of the attack showing the wall initially intact and then a blast.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Arabia
Shiite Militia Shoot Dead Two Yemen Protesters
Circling the drain, in that inimitable Houthi way.
[AnNahar] Shiite gunnies in Yemen killed two protesters on Thursday when they opened fire on a rally in support of the beleaguered Western-backed president, a medic and an activist said.

Thousands of people had joined the demonstration in the central city of Baida, which the Huthi gunnies who control the capital seized last month, said organizing committee member Fahd al-Tawil.

The Huthis fired live rounds to disperse them, said Tawil.

A medic said "two people were killed and six others were maimed," raising an earlier toll, after injured protester succumbed to his wounds.

Demonstrations in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have multiplied since he beat feet from house arrest in the capital last month and resumed power from second city Aden.

They have been particularly widespread in confessionally mixed and mainly Sunni central provinces where opposition to the Shiite militia runs deep.

The Huthis control much of northern Yemen but Aden and adjacent southern provinces are largely in the hands of troops and paramilitaries loyal to Hadi.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Home Front: WoT
Palestinian terrorist gets jail for lying on US immigration form
[IsraelTimes] Rasmieh Odeh gets 18 months behind bars and will likely be deported for covering up role in deadly 1969 Jerusalem bombing

A former Paleostinian terrorist living in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for failing to disclose her convictions for bombings in Israel when she applied to be a US citizen.

Rasmieh Odeh appeared Thursday in bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit
... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang...
's federal court, backed by dozens of supporters. She will remain free while she appeals.

Odeh will likely be deported to Jordan upon her release, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

Judge Gershwin Drain said Odeh was a terrorist decades ago but has changed her ways. Nevertheless, he said, she lied.

Odeh helps run Chicago's Arab American Action Network. In 2004, she answered "no" on her citizenship application when asked about past convictions. She says she believed the questions were about US crimes.

Prosecutors requested a sentence of five to seven years for lying on the form, well above the federal sentencing guideline of 12 to 18 months.

"A light sentence in this case would be a signal to anyone who has fought overseas for ISIS or a similar organization that there is not much risk in coming to the United States, hiding one's past and seeking citizenship," prosecutors Jonathan Tukel and Mark Jebson wrote.

Odeh was convicted in Israel of two bombings in Jerusalem in 1969 and was sentenced to life in prison. One of the bombings killed Hebrew University students Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner at a grocery store.

Odeh, 67, said Israeli authorities tortured her into confessing.

Israel released Odeh in 1979 in a prisoner exchange with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
... Paleostinian Marxist movement, founded in 1967. It is considered a terrorist organization by more than 30 countries including the U.S., European Union, Australia, Canada, and Antarctica. The PFLP's stated goal is the establishment of a socialist State in Paleostine. They pioneered armed aircraft hijackings in the late 60s and early 70s...
, the group behind the bombings.

Odeh entered the US in 1995 and applied for citizenship in Detroit in 2004.

Odeh supporter Hatem Abudayyeh condemned the judge's rulings and the case as a whole.

"Since both defense motions challenged how Drain conducted the trial, it came as no surprise," Hatem Abudayyeh of the Rasmea Defense Committee said in a statement after her conviction last month. "We know that the conviction was a travesty of justice, and that Judge Drain's rulings made it impossible for the jury to give Rasmieh a fair shake."
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2015 10:07 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: PFLP

#1  Meanwhile Hildabeast will get nothing for lying on the disclosure statement when she departed State. Who got more Americans killed?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/13/2015 12:31 Comments || Top||

#2  My, how the Paleo stock has fallen. Long goneare the days of playing "What's on Arafat's Desk!"
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 03/13/2015 17:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Some of us still wonder what happened to the Red Binder.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/13/2015 18:24 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm just amazed that Obama didn't put her on the board of the Annenberg Foundation.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 03/13/2015 23:01 Comments || Top||


Pakistani-born brothers plead guilty in Florida terror plot
[Ynet] Two Pak-born brothers pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of plotting a terrorist explosives attack against New York City landmarks and assaulting two deputy US marshals while in jug.

The pleas were entered Thursday in Miami federal court by Sheheryar Alam Qazi, 32, and Raees Alam Qazi, 22. The pair has been in federal custody since late November 2012 after Raees Qazi returned from New York by bus following an aborted attack, possibly involving bombs made of common chemicals and Christmas tree lights.

Assistant US Attorney Karen Gilbert, reading from a factual statement signed by both brothers, said Raees Qazi had unsuccessfully attempted to enter Afghanistan to join Islamic murderous Moslems while visiting Pakistain in 2011. After that, she said, he decided to become a "lone wolf" who would find a way to attack the US from within.

In one meeting with a confidential FBI informant, Gilbert said, Raees Qazi said he had been in contact with al-Qaeda operatives and added, "the leaders know what they are talking about so when they call on Moslems in the West to stay in the West, there's a reason for that."
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  our beloved Pakistan strikes again
Posted by: paul || 03/13/2015 8:27 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
List of 110 most wanted terrorists
[DAWN] LAHORE: Police on Wednesday issued a list of 110 most wanted snuffies belonging to various banned outfits.

The top ten snuffies on the list were allegedly involved in high-profile suicide kabooms, besides sectarian violence.

One of the most wanted terrorists, Matiur Rehman, was involved in the attacks on former president retired Gen Musharraf, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz and suicide kaboom on Sheraton Hotel, Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
. He carried Rs10 million head money.

Mansoor alias Choota Ibrahim Hasan and Qari Ehsanul Haq alias Shahid were also involved in the suicide attack on Musharraf on Dec 25, 2003, in Rawalpindi. Rs5m reward had been announced for their arrest.

The head money on Ikramullah, who was associated with Baitullah Mehsood group and involved in the suicide attack that killed Ms Bhutto in Rawalpindi is Rs2 million.

Rs5 million reward was announced for providing information leading to arrest of Rana Mohammad Afzal, who belonged to the Masood Azhar group of the TTP. He had close links with Al Qaeda's Arab commanders. He had been carrying out terrorist activities along with Al Qaeda and Talibs.

The head money for Qari Abdullah, who is associated with TTP's Ameer Lashkar-e-Khurasan group, was the criminal mastermind of a suicide kaboom at the ISI office in Qasim Baila, Multan, is also Rs5 million.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan

#1  Wonder how many are muslim?
Posted by: chris || 03/13/2015 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  110 tangos? Are the police using Fred's "Thugburg" again?
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/13/2015 6:22 Comments || Top||


Qazi Qassem's Top 20 Most Wanted in Punjab
[DAWN] 1 Name: Mati-ur-Rehman
Other name(s): Samad, Ustaad Talha
Head money: Rs10,000,000
Major crime(s): Involved in suicide Attack on then Prime Minister of Pakistan Shaukat Aziz, Civil Lines Karachi bomb blast.
Affiliated with: Sipah-i-Sahaba/Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (SSP/LJ), Jaish-i-Muhammad (JM)

2 Name: Mansoor
Other name(s): Ibrahim, Chotta Ibrahim, Hasaan
Head money: Rs5,000,000
Major crime(s): Involved in suicide Attack on then President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf
Affiliated with: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

3 Name: Qari Ehsan ul Haq
Other name(s): Basit, Ustaad Huzaifa
Head money: Rs5,000,000
Major crime(s): Involved in suicide Attack on then President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf
Affiliated with: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ)

4 Name: Rana Muhammad Afzal
Other name(s): Fazal Ullah, Noor Khan
Head money: Rs5,000,000
Major crime(s): Attack on Saddar Kabirwala district, Khanewal, 2005
Affiliated with: Jaish-i-Muhammad (JM) [Masoor Azhar Group], Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

5 Name: Qari Obaidullah
Other name(s): Qari Imran, Hakeem Nasir, Abdul Rahim, Qari Sahib
Head money: Rs5,000,000
Major crime(s): Various attacks in Mianwali, Multan, DG Khan and Faisalabad
Affiliated with: Ameer Lashkar-i-Khurasan, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

6 Name: Muhammad Hammad Akbar Khan
Other name(s): Ilyas Moavia
Head money: Rs2,000,000
Major crime(s): Involved in suicide attack on PTS Sargodha/PAF bus Sargodha in 2007
Affiliated with: Jaish-i-Muhammad (JM), Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

7 Name: Muhammad Tayyab
Other name(s): Baba Ji
Head money: Rs2,000,000
Major crime(s): Involved in suicide attack on PTS Sargodha/PAF bus Sargodha in 2007
Affiliated with: Jaish-i-Muhammad (JM)

8 Name: Faiz Muhammad
Other name(s): Kaskat, Qasim
Head money: Rs2,000,000
Major crime(s): Involved in suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto, Rawalpindi in 2007
Affiliated with: Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), BM

9 Name: Ikram Ullah
Other name(s): None
Head money: Rs2,000,000
Major crime(s): Involved in suicide attack on Benazir Bhutto, Rawalpindi in 2007
Affiliated with: Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), BM

10 Name: Qari Muhammad Yasin
Other name(s): Osama, Aslam, Hakeem, Sangarbar, Ustad Mushtaq, Sabir, Arif Khan
Head money: Rs2,000,000
Major crime(s): Various attacks in Rawalpindi, Attock and Lahore
Affiliated with: Sipah-i-Sahaba/Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (SSP/LJ)

11 Name: Noor-ul-Ameen
Other name(s): Khalid Pathan
Head money: Rs1,000,000
Major crime(s): Attack A-R Bazar, Rawalpindi in 2004
Affiliated with: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ)

12 Name: Abdul Hameed Watto
Other name(s): Watto, Abu Tariq
Head money: Rs1,000,000
Major crime(s): Involved in suicide attack on GPO Chowk and Naval War College Lahore
Affiliated with: Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), BM

13 Name: Bilal aka Abdul Rahim
Head money: Rs1,000,000
Major crime(s): Various attacks in Sargodha
Affiliated with: Jaish-i-Muhammad (JM)

14 Name: Muhammad Zubair
Other name(s): Mugheera, Farooq
Head money: Rs2,500,000
Major crime(s): Involved in ISI Qasim Bela, Multan
Affiliated with: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ)/Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

15 Name: Muhammad Majid
Other name(s): Abdul Majid
Head money: Rs500,000
Major crime(s): Attack in Rahim Yar Khan
Affiliated with: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ)

16 Name: Abdul Waqar
Other name(s): Waqar Azeem
Head money: Rs200,000
Major crime(s): Two attacks in Vehari
Affiliated with: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ)

17 Name: Ahmed aka Shareef aka Ayaz Punjabi
Major crime(s): Two attacks on Sakhi Sarwar district, DG Khan
Affiliated with: Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

18 Name: Zara Ali aka Naeemullah
Major crime(s): Two attacks on Sakhi Sarwar district, DG Khan
Affiliated with: Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

19 Name: Ayub aka Saifullah
Major crime(s): Two attacks on Sakhi Sarwar district, DG Khan
Affiliated with: Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

20 Name: Ijaz Ahmed
Major crime(s): Attack on Cantt, Multan
Affiliated with: Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) [Qari Obaidullah Group]
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Seven Mohammeds. An inexplicable Mo-incidence.

These twisted headbangers are revvin'!
They wanna rock Pak into heaven
By ringing its death knell
With even less cowbell
And Islam that goes to eleven.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 03/13/2015 4:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Cowbell. Once again the unexpected from Zenobia F.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2015 8:23 Comments || Top||

#3  There is a current need for more frequent use of this instrument.
Posted by: Shipman || 03/13/2015 15:08 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq forces expel ISIL militants from seven villages
[Iran Press TV] Government forces in Iraq have managed to wrest control of a number of villages in the northern province of Kirkuk as they continue to gain more ground in the battle against the ISIL Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
bully boys.

Brigadier General Sarhad Qadir, the provincial police chief, said Iraqi security forces backed by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters liberated seven villages near the town of Qaryat al-Rashad, located roughly 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of the capital, Baghdad, on Thursday afternoon following intense festivities with the ISIL Takfiris, Iraq's al-Sumaria satellite TV network reported.

Qadir further said that scores of ISIL forces of Evil were killed during the operation.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, also said Iraqi soldiers have launched an operation to recapture the northern village of Basheer, located 15 kilometers (nine miles) south of the city of Kirkuk.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  USAF Pilot's recent combat perspective:

Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2015 9:20 AM
Subject: A-10 driver perspective FYSA

The squadron is doing fine. Everybody is happy to be here and we are doing some good work. The A-10s are holding up well and the technology we have have on the jets now (targeting pods, GPS guided bombs, Laser Guided bombs, Laser guided missiles, tactical data link, satellite comms), and of course the gun, make the A-10 ideal for this conflict. We are killing off as many ISIS as we can, mostly in ones and twos, working with the hand we are dealt. I've never been more convinced in my career that we are facing an enemy that needs to be eradicated.

With that being said...I've never been more frustrated in my career. After 13 years of the mind - numbing low intensity conflict in Afghanistan, I've never seen the knife more dull. All the hard lessons learned in Vietnam, and fixed during the first Gulf War, have been unlearned again. The level of centralized execution, bureaucracy, and politics is staggering. I basically do not have any decision making authority in my cockpit. It sucks. In most cases, unless a general officer can look at a video picture from a UAV, over a satellite link, I cannot get authority to engage. I've spent many hours, staring through a targeting pod screen in my own cockpit, watching ISIS shitheads perpetrate their acts until my eyes bleed, without being able to do anything about it. The institutional fear of making a mistake, that has crept into the central mindset of the military leadership, is endemic. We have not taken the fight to these guys. We haven't targeted their centers of gravity in Raqqa. All the roads between Syria and Iraq are still intact with trucks flowing freely. The other night I watched a couple hundred small tanker trucks lined up at an oilfield in ISIS - held northeast Syria, presumably filling up with with oil traded on the b l ack market, go unfettered. It's not uncommon to wait several hours overhead a suspected target for someone to make a decision to engage or not. It feels like we are simply using the constructs build up in Afghanistan, which was a very limited fight, in the same way here against ISIS, which is a much more sophisticated and numerically greater foe. It's embarrassing.

Be assured that the Hawg drivers are doing their best.



Posted by: Besoeker || 03/13/2015 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  If you not gonna let them do their job, might as well bring them home to protect the borders and become isolationist again.
Posted by: chris || 03/13/2015 0:50 Comments || Top||

#3  chris, there's no chance in the world that they would be allowed to do their job to "protect" the borders.

The only thing they would be allowed to do is watch the invasion and mark the invaders to be visited by the Democrat recruiting teams.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/13/2015 8:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Not a new phenomenon. This engage-by-direction has been going on for over twenty years; the only difference is the dithering is done via faster data links.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/13/2015 11:00 Comments || Top||

#5  the only difference is the dithering is done via faster data links.

Maybe we should go back to smoke signals.
Posted by: gorb || 03/13/2015 15:28 Comments || Top||

#6  So much for almost 150 years of advancement in tactical thought.

Roon and Von Clausewitz both stated developing the decision making and the initiative of the junior officer corps was essential to victory in battle. The fog of war and the time lost in elevating tactical decisions demand the junior officers make the decisions and execute violently.

Apparently the politicalization of our senior officer corps has left us with a bunch of REMFs and parade ground generals whose entire career has been spent on the cocktail circuit and the Pentagon. We need to bring back a bunch of the guys that youknowwho ran off or quit in disgust.

I think the hog driver has given us the final explanation of why we have so few sorties a day...the LBJ era of target selection is upon us again.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 03/13/2015 19:01 Comments || Top||


Wary Iraq Forces Tighten Noose on IS in Tikrit
[AnNahar] Thousands of Iraqi troops and Death Eaters laid siege to jihadist fighters holed up in Tikrit on Thursday, wary of rushing into streets littered with bombs and infested with snipers.

After making major gains in and around the city on Wednesday, commanders were confident that Baghdad's biggest victory yet against the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(IS) group was only a matter of time.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Science & Technology
Watch a B-2 Spirit bomber refuel and then rotate dorsal fuel receptacle to achieve full stealthiness
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp52169 || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Very cool...shame it wasn't refueling over Iran
Posted by: Warthog || 03/13/2015 9:45 Comments || Top||

#2  ION IIRC CHINA DAILY FORUM > RUSSIA: THE US-NATO IS DEVELOPING A NEW LONG-RANGE WEAPON THEY CALL "GOD".

The USAF's new, post-B-2 Long-Range Strategic Bomber Programme whose Super-LR, Super-Stealthy aircraft can strike "any point/place on the Globe" from CONUS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/13/2015 20:22 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Three Usman relatives said slain in Maguindanao
[Philippine Star] Three relatives of wanted terrorist Basit Usman died in recent clashes between the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and Phillipine forces in Maguindanao, the military said yesterday.

Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc said two of Usman's nephews – identified as Rene Masabpi and Kumidi Simeon – were killed in a series of encounters in Shariff Saydona Mustapha town last Wednesday. Cabunoc added, "Another unidentified relative of elusive terrorist leader Basit Usman was also killed in fierce clashes with Marine troopers in the swampland of Barangay Pamalian in Shariff Saydona Mustapha."

He said the three fatalities were buried by retreating BIFF rebels in shallow graves. Cabunoc said, "Civilian informants pinpointed their burial sites to government troops."
Posted by: ryuge || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters

#1  FYI the latest [post-Mamasapano] PH Army offensives agz the BIFF, pro-AQ + ISIS Abu Sayaff, + Commie NPA is being criticized for turning Mindanao into a de facto "War/Combat zone".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/13/2015 22:05 Comments || Top||


Warrents issued in Narathiwat car bombing
[The Nation] Arrest warrants were issued for three men suspected in the bloody car bombing in downtown Narathiwat on February 20. The chief investigator said yesterday that evidence had led police to Wae-arong Samae, Saidudeng Hayi-adae, who is also wanted in another case, and Daramaeng Uma, who was already wanted in two other cases.

The explosion in front of a karaoke bar damaged dozens of homes and injured 13 people, four seriously.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Clashes between Assad and Nusra forces kill 50
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] More than 50 regime soldiers and Islamist fighters were killed as they battled over a strategic hilltop in Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
's home province, a monitoring group said on Thursday.

Government forces clashed with Al-Qaeda-affiliated turbans backed by other armed Islamist groups in a village in Latakia province in the northwest.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting broke out Wednesday and raged through the night in Jabal al-Akrad district, a rare rebel stronghold in the province, which is the heartland of the ruling Assad clan.

Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
Front and its allies were seeking to recapture the village of Dourine, which overlooks their positions in one of the district's main towns, Salma.

They lost the village to Assad's forces last week after holding it for more than year.

"The festivities on Wednesday led to 50 dead from both sides. There are many casualties because the fighters are facing off directly," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

"Al-Nusra managed to retake parts of the village, but the regime still controls the hilltop that overlooks Salma," he said.

The mountainous district of Jabal al-Akrad, which translates to Mountain of the Kurds, is the main rebel stronghold in Latakia province

Despite its name, it is populated mostly by Sunni Arabs who were early supporters of the protests against the Assad regime in 2011.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


50 Dead in Battle in Assad Home Province
[AnNahar] More than 50 regime soldiers and Islamist fighters were killed as they battled over a strategic hilltop in Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
's home province, a monitoring group said on Thursday.

Government forces clashed with al-Qaeda-affiliated Death Eaters backed by other armed Islamist groups in a village in Latakia province in the northwest.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting broke out Wednesday and raged through the night in Jabal al-Akrad district, a rare rebel stronghold in the province, which is the heartland of the ruling Assad clan.

Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
Front and its allies were seeking to recapture the village of Dourine, which overlooks their positions in one of the district's main towns, Salma.

They lost the village to Assad's forces last week after holding it for more than year.

"The festivities on Wednesday led to 50 dead from both sides. There are many casualties because the fighters are facing off directly," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

"Al-Nusra managed to retake parts of the village, but the regime still controls the hilltop that overlooks Salma," he said.

The mountainous district of Jabal al-Akrad, which translates to Mountain of the Kurds, is the main rebel stronghold in Latakia province

Despite its name, it is populated mostly by Sunni Arabs who were early supporters of the protests against the Assad regime in 2011.

Jabal al-Akrad lies close to villages populated by Alawites, who belong to the same offshoot of Shiite Islam as Assad.

The region is one of multiple fronts in the four-year Syrian civil war, which has killed more than 210,000 people.

In the central province of Homs, at least five regime soldiers were killed Thursday when a jacket wallah detonated a boom-mobile at an army checkpoint, the Britannia-based Observatory said.

Syria's state news agency SANA also reported the blast. It said four people were killed, without specifying whether they were soldiers or civilians.

The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
jihadist group claimed a similar attack near a gas facility in the area in late December.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Kurds Hold Off IS Attack on Syria Border Town
[AnNahar] Kurdish fighters on Thursday held off a fierce assault by the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group on the strategic border town of Ras al-Ain in northeast Syria, a monitoring group said.

But the jihadists advanced against the Kurdish militia around Tal Tamr, another key town on the same front line in Syria's Hasakeh province.

IS launched a major offensive Wednesday to try to capture Ras al-Ain, which has a border crossing with Ceylanpinar in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
.

The jihadists want to seize the town, as well as Tal Tamr, to control key routes that link to their Iraqi bastion of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
farther east.

"The Islamic State took over the village of Tal Nasri, so they are now only 500 meters (yards) from Tal Tamr," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

He said 22 Kurdish fighters and at least 18 IS jihadists had been killed in the battle for Tal Tamr.

Dozens more have been killed in fighting near Ras al-Ain, according to the Britannia-based Observatory.

"This is all one operation by the Islamic State. Tal Tamr and Ras al-Ain are the same front," Abdel Rahman said.

The jihadists made a preemptive strike on Ras al-Ain because they feared the Kurds would use it as a launchpad for an attack on the IS-held town of Tal Abyad to the west, the Observatory said.

Tal Abyad is used by jihadists as a gateway from Turkey into the Syrian province of Raqa, home to IS's self-proclaimed capital.

The IS offensives come just weeks after Kurdish militia backed by Iraqi peshmerga fighters and Syrian rebels drove the bandidos Death Eaters out of the key battleground town of Kobane farther west along the Turkish border.

Foreign jihadists have flocked to Syria, often crossing over from Turkey, since the country's conflict began in March 2011 as a popular revolt which later escalated into a full-blown civil war.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
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5Houthis
3Taliban
2Arab Spring
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1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Iraq
1al-Qaeda
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1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1TTP
1Muslim Brotherhood
1PFLP
1Thai Insurgency
1al-Shabaab
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
1Boko Haram

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2015-03-13
  Clashes between Assad and Nusra forces kill 50
Thu 2015-03-12
  Iraqi army targets ISIS in Tikrit, regains major areas
Wed 2015-03-11
  Chad and Niger launch offensive against Boko Haram
Tue 2015-03-10
  Retreating ISIS blows up bridge in south Kirkuk
Mon 2015-03-09
  Yemen defense minister flees Sanaa to join president in Aden
Sun 2015-03-08
  Boko Haram leader pledges allegiance to IS
Sat 2015-03-07
  Advancing Iraq troops enter al-Dour
Fri 2015-03-06
  Blast hits Nusra Front in Syria, kills commander
Thu 2015-03-05
  Pakistani man found guilty in al-Qaeda plot to attack NYC subway
Wed 2015-03-04
  Turkish ISIL agent charged with running underage Syrian prostitution ring
Tue 2015-03-03
  Bibi Netanyahu’s Speech: Liveblog
Mon 2015-03-02
  Iraq Launches Offensive on ISIS North of Baghdad
Sun 2015-03-01
  Egyptian court declares Hamas a 'terrorist organization'
Sat 2015-02-28
  Boko Haram Fighters Turn to Cannibalism in Nigerian Forest
Fri 2015-02-27
  Third alleged accomplice in Copenhagen shootings arrested

Better than the average link...



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